Kevin Stafford 0:02
Hello, everyone and welcome to another episode of the conversations with coaches podcast. I’m your usual host Kevin. Today I have the pleasure of interviewing James food Torres. James is over now or should I call you foo, James food. I’ll go with foo. foo is a renowned public relations strategist, host of a top podcast, which we were just discussing an international best selling author. He’s best known as Food founder and CEO of Imperium authority. Foo, welcome to the podcast. If I slip and call you, James, it’s just because I’m like, I have weird formal instincts. I’ll try to stick the food as best I can. Thank you for being on the pod today.
James Foo Torres 0:37
Thanks. Thanks for having me, Kevin. It’s, you know, a little bit that we talked prior to start recording, I think it was pretty cool. And I’m excited to see where this goes.
Kevin Stafford 0:47
Awesome. Well, let’s, uh, let’s go back to your your beginnings or like maybe on that to the very beginning. It’s like I was born. And let’s not go back that far. Let’s talk about though your your superhero origin story as an entrepreneur, how did you first realize you wanted to, to not only like, go into PR, but also really run your own business? And how did you go from that moment of realization into the business that you have today?
James Foo Torres 1:10
Yeah, so quick backstory, I’m originally from Puerto Rico, I got recruited with the Air Force, that’s how I got to the States became a completely bilingual on my last year, always like looking for something more, more fulfilling something that gives me more purpose. So I came back from deployment, I have some money, time, and I invested or initially, I was just looking for the vehicle, right. And then I found the agency model, I’m like, Damn, that sounds like a good model. To me, I don’t want to have inventory, like, you know, also stinking drop shipping, or maybe a VA or anything. And I was like, I don’t want to deal with that. So services was the attractive thing, I saw the agency model. And I always liked commercials and stuff. And I then when I started learning about lead generation, SEO and PR, by investing on a coaching program, they taught me everything from creating a North Star to opening a business account register on the state, everything like from ground level business, to then how to generate leads how to rank high on Google, and how to leverage publicity to gain trust quicker, and reduce the time that people get to trust, you get, then you know, got more authority in, then that was the beginning of it, then, really, the PR was the thing that really, really, I really liked the most, I was like, Damn this authority, this this visibility, I want to have the feature and force myself, I want to be in TV. And thankfully, I’ve been able to accomplish that. Now that have been two years in a half in. And that was that was it. That was it was in, I didn’t know that I was going to do PR I was looking for a vehicle that makes sense to fit my lifestyle. And that I reverse engineer that into what PR was the vehicle that saw the opportunity that was clearly I started testing different things like SEO lead generation, as offers, PR was the thing that really everybody was answering, everybody wants to be in the media. So I was like this clear, there’s a clear need. So I’m gonna fulfill that need. And I just committed to it. Just a lot of networking with other publicists, with the media, with prospects with potential partners. And that’s how I got here.
Kevin Stafford 3:20
I love that I love that you you focused on finding the vehicle and you focused on you had your intention is like, I know where I want to go. I don’t know what vehicle is going to take me there, but I’m going to find it. And I just I love that you had you had that core intention, decided first. And I feel like a lot of times people will fall into the trap of trying to like find the right vehicle for them first before they really even know where they want to go. As love that you knew that first you’re like, you know what I want to go in this direction. I know how it’s going to work, I’m going to try a bunch of stuff. And whichever thing I respond to the most strongly the thing that I liked the most that I get the most out of, I’m gonna hop into that vehicle and we’re gonna go forward and I have a feeling that you are someone who is if there’s ever a point at which this vehicle isn’t going to get you where you want to go, you’re always looking for what’s the next opportunity? What’s the next option, what’s the next vehicle the next boost, the next thing that’s going to continue this journey I could I could I could tell that about you. And I love that it’s one of those one of those attributes or those virtues that I find just very I was gonna say necessary. But it’s even more than that. I find it very compelling and very attractive. Very useful people. It’s very, it’s very nice to be a part of to be around someone who is who has got that commitment, has that intention formulate it is just like, I’m going for it. And you know what, I’m going to help as many people as I can. I’m going to do it in a way that’s going to that’s going to help me to live the life I want to live.
James Foo Torres 4:40
exactly everything that I do. It’s it’s with the mission to live a life on my own terms to live a fulfilling life to do something that I that makes life worth living. To be honest, you know, it’s it’s life is hard. Life. It’s hard. It’s so tough. Especially you know Well, being wanting to create your own path, in in a song as you have, I want to call like that anchor or like North Star, you know, there’s different names to it, you can endure those tough times. And for me, like during this journey, what I’ve develop as my mission, as my purpose is to amplify the impact of businesses and entrepreneurs, or just people in general, that are doing something good for the world. That is my mission. And now it’s it, everything that I do, is to support that mission. So regardless, if I do more traditional PR, or if I focus more on social media or YouTube, everything, it’s it’s it’s for for image purposes, for attention for for impact, every everything is towards that, like me, utilizing vehicles to amplify the impact of people that I think or businesses that are doing good for the world. And that’s the way that I can make the world a better place.
Kevin Stafford 6:05
Awesome. Awesome. That’s a perfect segue into my next question, let’s talk about I sometimes almost ask this question, like an interrogation question. That’s like, what did you know? And when did you know it? But um, who do you? Who do you primarily work with these days? And how do you work with them? Like, what’s one of the the kind of the nuts and bolts of your business these days? Or you could just pick one aspect of it that you’re most excited about? You can choose your own adventure on this question, but talk a little bit about Yeah, what your, what Imperium authority looks like today, and who you primarily work with, and for.
James Foo Torres 6:33
So I primarily work with businesses and business owners that already have a fire started, like they they are selling, they are, they are fulfilling a need. They’re clearly carved out their way into the market. Now, they want to go national, they want to, like poured more fuel to the fire, that’s what I do best, I know how to get attention to people that are already providing something good for the world, right? For the market for the their industry. And for for that, like the typical business owners are usually minimum six figures, but usually like seven figures, or even eight figures out to eight figure, business owners and US clients. And those are the best, the best clients because they, the fact that they have the success, they have proof of concept. And now it’s just pouring fuel to the fire makes it a lot easier for me. And also, they they have the money. So that means that they have options, right? That’s the thing, like when I want to implement things, a lot of times it’s like, you know, if you don’t have enough resources, then it’s a little bit challenging to be able to implement certain things. But when we as soon as we lay down a strategy that it’s like, Look, we’re not missing like we’re doing we’re doing something that is proven is something that is the right thing to do at this of the stage. Now it’s just implementation and having the resources having the team to like those, this people they have already a team, I come in and I can help guide their their marketing teams, and we complement each other. In that’s how we build everything on on branding, in content being the foundation than publicity to add the authority in paid ads to like, look, this is what is proven to work on organic. Now that is this creative is proven. Now we can play around with paid because of paid advertisement, because now it’s proven like you’re not gonna miss because if it was good for free, imagine if you now you get in front of more people, that’s the strategy that we’re doing.
Kevin Stafford 8:46
I really I like that quite a bit. Because just like, look, we know this is gonna work. We’re not we’re not we don’t just want you to dump, you know, four or five figures a month on these paid ads, we have a process and this is like, that’s why I love where you come in to, to the business to people’s businesses. Because that that stage where you’ve got, you know, you’ve got something you’ve gotten, you’ve gotten some success. And you can you can sense it, you could feel it like there is national international success waiting for you on the other side of this gap, this place where it’s like you’re at a certain size you don’t know how to go from, from you went from the solopreneur, where it was just you and then you’ve got your team and you kind of have a few people, maybe a few more. And you’re like, I don’t quite know how to get to that next level. I don’t quite know what to do, or I know what to do, but I don’t know how to go about doing it. And it’s really hard to acquire that kind of expertise, while you’re also building the business that you want to build doing the thing you want to do. And that’s where you are ideally suited to come in and lend your expertise to a team to a situation that’s already like you said, it’s like ready for takeoff. It’s like all that the fire is just there’s a spark there. You can see the raw materials ready to go. You just come in. It’s like, you know what, we’re going to turn this into a raging inferno into a rocket ship. Here’s how you do it. Yep, plan, it’s proven, it’s tested, you can trust it, it’s adaptable to different situations and circumstances. It’s not just like, you know, applied like a like a, like a template, it’s like, look, I have this plan, we’re going to suit it to your business, because I’m good at that I’m speaking for you now. But it’s like, I just love that I love the way in which you step into those ripe opportunities, with all the right moves. I feel like it’s so valuable.
James Foo Torres 10:25
Yeah, no, I agree. And I really like it, too, you know, I just come in, and I, when I come in, and the resources for me to thrive are in place in a way, right? It’s so great, right? Like, I come in and start to, like, doing the applying my things and, and then like, meanwhile, there’s always room for improvement, right? Like, doesn’t matter if I know about something that worked, the market is always changing. So I’m always like, even though that I have a structure of like what I’m doing, I also like experimenting on different things. And I also use my own platforms to to experiment with content with different strategies. And then I go to my clients, it’s like, hey, if I tried this on myself, or I tried this, you know, with one of my clients is doing this and I bring it to other clients to write in, I just build that, like, community almost right? That it’s even though that they don’t, I don’t have them all connected, or, um, I have my slack channel where I connect a lot of people, but not all of them are there, right, like no one to engage and connect, but, but it’s cool, because I mean, if they don’t connect between each other, I make the connection, right? I do, like, Hey, I bring here here. And it’s amazing how how, how big of an impact and how much you can do or how many more people you can help when when you have that help on on getting more attention and more visibility with authority to not just like just, you know, pushing like paid ads, right, it gets you a lot of for a lot of people, but if you don’t have the authority, then people don’t know, don’t give you the chance, right. And that’s when the publicity comes in, to help people to for, for them to give you the chance to to consider talking to you consuming your content following you, etc.
Kevin Stafford 12:13
Yeah, I love it you mentioned earlier on in our conversation, trust. And how important that is to this is just getting, there’s so much noise out there. And it’s just like, it’s really easy to just generate more noise, but what what a company really needs and what you really provide is that we aren’t just gonna go out there and make noise on your behalf are going to build a structure through which people can see you know, you and come to trust you and begin that trust journey, before you’ve even met, like they’re gonna see your content, they’re gonna see what you’re putting out there. And they’re gonna get a good idea of who you are and what you stand for. So they’re going to come into your first conversation, your first interaction, already trusting you a little bit even though you’ve never met. And that’s just, that’s, that’s the work. And that’s it’s so pet, like you said, it’s so powerful, to be able to do that for someone and to be able to help people to find discover that impact and build those those relationships and find that trust and like you’re talking about to the network effect, where you’ve just got us putting people together and like letting really letting the magic happen, just like putting people together and just standing back and just watching how things grow. And just by knowing the right people and putting them in the right place at the right time, it really is just, it’s just so impactful. And so exponentially impactful. When you see it happen, it’s really, there’s a lot of joy and being a part of that isn’t there where you’re just like you’re not, you’re good at what you do. And you’re always growing and getting better. And you’re able to live that in your business and your personal life all thread on every level of your life. And it’s just, I know, we’re talking a little personally now, but there’s just there’s such a, I mean, I can’t believe I ever lived my life in a way that wasn’t like that, that I was ever seeking anything different, like ever thought that I couldn’t have that kind of that kind of happiness, in coupling with hard work and service and impact. And it’s just, I know it’s kind of cheesy to say it, but you can have it all you can have it all there’s a lot there’s a lot of hard work a lot of hard work involved, but you can you can have that satisfaction and impact and growth and be really dang good at what you do all the same time. It’s there’s an overlap really a question there. I’m just really vibe and I’m vibing with what you do. I love it.
James Foo Torres 14:14
Thank you, thank you and you said something very important there about about trust. Because after somebody knows like and trust you the rest is just a numbers game. Does they are can you see like if you put can you afford to have X amount of dollars and you can visualize how this is the this is the outcome that makes sense for you. You already know like and trust me, Can you visualize it? Does the numbers make sense? That’s it we make business that’s that’s that simple. Like I I’ve been doing this for two years and a half now in I’ve I learned how to do the trust right like the know like and trust part that like that was my main my main priority. And even though I didn’t have it. I’m still learning about a lot about like the psychology of sales and tactics and not necessarily being salesy, but but with practice comes, how to navigate a conversation properly. And for me that that’s something that I’m even still, to this day I’m learning. But at least I know how to make strong and genuine connections with people. Because I’m just honest, I’m an honest person that I just talked to them, I bring with value, and I lead with value, especially with doing things like with my podcasts, like you guys are doing right now with me, it’s amazing, because when you leave with value, and just give a lot of value to people, the rest just just flows, right? Like money flows, the connections flow, everything flows. So that’s, that’s my main thing is just just being the best version that I can possibly be of myself every day. That’s what I strive for. And not necessarily I achieve it every day sometimes where we all have bad days. But as long as I’m like, I can go to bed right before going to bed and be like, Look, I did my best today, right? Like in feeling like that. And just being as good as I can, the rest will follow in that. That’s That’s how my journey has been.
Kevin Stafford 16:10
I don’t I don’t think I could have been any better. That’s, that’s perfect. And I look at the clock. And we’ve already been chatting for like almost a half an hour. It’s blown right by. Before I let you go for a close out. You mentioned the podcast, talk a little bit about where people can find out more about you where people can listen to this podcast and what you’re excited about what the podcast developing and growing. I know in the not too distant future, get talking about where people can find out more about you and where people can connect with you. If they want to get to know you better and start a conversation.
James Foo Torres 16:36
Easiest way to connect with me is just Google James L. St. Louis fu F, oh, that’s my username everywhere. So you can find me on social media, you can send me DMS, you can connect with me on LinkedIn. That’s my favorite. That’s like, you know, my social funnel. That’s how I operate the most. And that’s direct contact to me. You can also just go to my website like Imperium authority.com. I prioritize my name, because Imperium is a little bit hard to spell sometimes for some people in my podcast is titled moments with foods, which you know, moments with me, and I’m a guest podcaster for the strategic advisory board. So if you Google strategic advisor board, not advisory board advisor board, then you can look that we’re in YouTube and every single platform. YouTube is the easiest to navigate, right? Because the playlists are separated stems just scrolling through a list of all the 300 episodes. So yeah, it’s that’s, that’s how easy you can you can find me and yeah, I’ve put content everywhere. And I’m ramping up the volume on that. So and the next thing is the in person podcast is coming to our studio. So I’m very, very excited about that. That’s gonna be a great level up and I look forward to have some amazing people in it.
Kevin Stafford 17:55
Very, very cool. Yeah. And obviously, if people want to find out more about that podcast, they can just check you check out all your socials, you’ll be I’m sure you’ll be talking about it in the days and weeks to come. Yes, I will. Yes. All right. So it’s been it’s been great to talk to you. I’m like, I’m very pleased to like have gotten to know you, you are delightful presence and I just I love I love the energy you’re putting out into the world. I love I love the hard work, the vibes, the trust, the the values, the impact, that your that you’re working towards in your life and in your business. It’s been awesome to talk to you. I may have to have you back on again soon. I may have to bring you back in next year. Once you’ve got your your next podcast launched and launched and thriving. So yeah. Thanks for talking with me today.
James Foo Torres 18:32
Well, thanks. Thanks for having me. Have fun. And I hope that this is something that brings value to at least one person
Kevin Stafford 18:39
I know brought value to me already. And I hope it’ll bring value to the rest of our audience, of course. And to that audience, thank you for listening. Do yourself a favor, find out more about food, you could tell he’s delightful, and he’s got a lot to offer. So yeah, find him Google what he told you to Google. Go to where he told you to go. Listen for his next podcast. Listen to his current podcast. Find out more. Do yourself a favor. You won’t be sorry. And we’ll talk to you here again very soon.
